Time-turner

"Early to bed and early to rise makes a man healthy wealthy and wise " is a quote that we have all grown up hearing our parents tell us. When we were schoolkids we all secretly wished to be allowed to stay up late and watch that interesting movie or cricket match till the end without being ordered off to bed early. Teenage rebellion followed by studying for the board exams all meant that this wish was granted but not in the manner that we had wished for... The odd New-year's eve that we were permitted to stay awake till the clock struck the 12 well past the "Cinderella hour" was a celebratory event in itself...The many sweet memories of childhood that I wish to relive all over again, soaking myself in those carefree joys...And then there are those many "I wish were forgettable" incidents which made you feel like turning back the clock and undoing the wrongs and setting things right... If only we could do that... In-fact of the many magical powers that were part of Harry potter's world I wished I had, the time-turner tops my list.

 

Last weekend for the first time I had my brush with time in a special way, it was the end of Daylight saving time. As Wiki will rightly enlighten you - " Daylight saving time (DST)—also summer time in several countries is the practice of advancing clocks so that evenings have more daylight and mornings have less."Typically clocks are adjusted forward one hour near the start of spring and are adjusted backward in autumn.The phrase "Spring forward, Fall back" helps people remember how DST affects their clocks. Start and end dates vary with location and year. Beginning and ending dates are the reverse in the southern hemisphere." 

Confused hour hand :P

At my previous workplace back in India, this had meant that our meetings with our US counterparts would be rescheduled as per convenience of both the groups. This time however living here in the US of A  meant that on November 4th, we shifted our clocks back one hour at 2 a.m. local time. It felt very funny, it was like we were turning back time albeit only for an hour...We have to put it ahead by an hour in spring mind you, but until then we have turned back time :-P So there you are - although "Time and tide wait for no one", DST offered me the false sense of victory over time for a brief moment. Now if only I could lay my hands on a real time-turner...